I'm a new home owner and purchased this house whose landscape is a huge fixer upper. One part of me wants to save this tree, the other part says its a lost cause. The tree looked fine when we bought the property, but then the huge snow and rain storms hit and it has slowly started decaying on the trunk. I also found this rope under a root like the previous owner was trying to get the tree out of the ground. There is also a big huge hole underneath it and there are suckers, literally, everywhere.

I know for sure it needs a professional arborist, but if there is something I can do in the meantime then it would be great to know. Would you also have a rough estimate on how much it would cost to chop and ground it? Any idea what species it is?

Pictures (I would upload here but 61 KB is not a good photo...)

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/6812/img0176dg.jpg

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/5149/img0177ge.jpg